Bored with Boards

It seems ages now since the FCHT official message went down due to technical difficulties – its almost like waiting for an update on ShaymenOnline (or should that be off line). Its been clear for some time that the club were uncomfortable with the existence of free expression being directly connected with them.

Whilst this feels wrong you can sort of (only sort of) see their point of view. The Punibond seem to hate us and are always on the look out for a reason to have a go – criticism of them on the board wasn't ever welcome and remember the Youtube debacle? Also, too many posters simply made things up, possibly leading to accusations of libel (although very unlikely). And of course some of the content was simply damaging and demotivating for the sake of it. In short, it is easy to see why the club would struggle to see it as a great PR vehicle and why up to its withdrawal content was regularly being removed. Strange though how so many other clubs around the country manage online communities without the need for such fuss.

Ossett away was the final straw, with with the club set to face a charge from the FA after fans intervened at the end of the game following a appalling display by the referee. Not wanting to worsen the situation, the board was pulled as a protective measure shortly after the game to stop the FA collecting ammunition in the form of continued abuse of the referee.

This leaves us with the unofficial board to post on at theshaymen.net. It's fair to say there was always some tension between this board and the official one, each community suggesting it was more relevant than the other and with the phrase 'kiddies board' being tediously overused. In theory the independent board does offer the poster more freedom to say what they feel and has no need to tow the party line. However, like the official board it too has recently had to resort to censorship following a trickle of dodgy posts from supposed rugby league fans – a mildly amusing outcome in light of the fact that this community had scorned restricting content up to that point, pot and kettle perhaps?

It does seem we are missing something right now in the midst of all of this with one board down and another hardly eager to bring refugees in. Its all a bit banterless. I wish we just had one good place to go on the net that we all felt welcome on and could exchange & develop ideas. I won't hold my breath.